What are the responsibilities and job description for the Chassis Design Release Engineer - Wheels & Tires position at Rivian?
About Rivian
Rivian is on a mission to keep the world adventurous forever. This goes for the emissions-free Electric Adventure Vehicles we build, and the curious, courageous souls we seek to attract.
As a company, we constantly challenge what’s possible, never simply accepting what has always been done. We reframe old problems, seek new solutions and operate comfortably in areas that are unknown. Our backgrounds are diverse, but our team shares a love of the outdoors and a desire to protect it for future generations.
Role Summary
The Chassis Design Engineer will be responsible for the product development of wheels, tires, and service kit content, including jack, tire repair, and spare wheel and tire systems, for Rivian Electric Adventure vehicles. Working under the guidance of Lead Engineers and the Senior Manager within the Rivian Chassis & Vehicle Dynamics Product Development Organization, this role involves managing wheel, tire, and service kit projects from concept through production release, supporting pre-series builds, and ensuring engineering sign-off. The ideal candidate will excel in a team environment, while also effectively self-managing deliverables. They should bring a strong foundational engineering skill set, a genuine passion for electric adventure vehicles, and a driven, curious attitude to continuously learn and advance chassis design and technology.
Responsibilities
The candidate will be responsible for delivering the following, with some supervision and guidance from leads and manager:-
Salary Range Irvine-Based Applicants: $107,800-$134,800 (actual compensation will be determined based on experience, and other factors permitted by law).
Benefits Summary: Rivian provides robust medical/Rx, dental and vision insurance packages for full-time employees, their spouse or domestic partner, and children up to age 26. Coverage is effective on the first day of employment.
Equal Opportunity
Rivian is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information or characteristics, physical or mental disability, marital/domestic partner status, age, military/veteran status, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Rivian is committed to ensuring that our hiring process is accessible for persons with disabilities. If you have a disability or limitation, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at candidateaccommodations@rivian.com .
Candidate Data Privacy
Rivian may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes (“Candidate Personal Data”). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional, employment, social media/website, network/device, recruiting system usage/interaction, security and preference information. Rivian may use your Candidate Personal Data for the purposes of (i) tracking interactions with our recruiting system; (ii) carrying out, analyzing and improving our application and recruitment process, including assessing you and your application and conducting employment, background and reference checks; (iii) establishing an employment relationship or entering into an employment contract with you; (iv) complying with our legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations; (v) recordkeeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.
Rivian may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our People Team, Finance, Legal, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Rivian affiliates; and (iii) Rivian’s service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.
Rivian may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to the laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions.
Please note that we are currently not accepting applications from third party application services.
Rivian is on a mission to keep the world adventurous forever. This goes for the emissions-free Electric Adventure Vehicles we build, and the curious, courageous souls we seek to attract.
As a company, we constantly challenge what’s possible, never simply accepting what has always been done. We reframe old problems, seek new solutions and operate comfortably in areas that are unknown. Our backgrounds are diverse, but our team shares a love of the outdoors and a desire to protect it for future generations.
Role Summary
The Chassis Design Engineer will be responsible for the product development of wheels, tires, and service kit content, including jack, tire repair, and spare wheel and tire systems, for Rivian Electric Adventure vehicles. Working under the guidance of Lead Engineers and the Senior Manager within the Rivian Chassis & Vehicle Dynamics Product Development Organization, this role involves managing wheel, tire, and service kit projects from concept through production release, supporting pre-series builds, and ensuring engineering sign-off. The ideal candidate will excel in a team environment, while also effectively self-managing deliverables. They should bring a strong foundational engineering skill set, a genuine passion for electric adventure vehicles, and a driven, curious attitude to continuously learn and advance chassis design and technology.
Responsibilities
The candidate will be responsible for delivering the following, with some supervision and guidance from leads and manager:-
- Project management, design, implementation and engineering deliverables for development of aluminium and steel wheels, tires, service kit jacks, tire mobility kits, stowage and wheel accessories (wheel covers, caps, fasteners) according to cascaded vehicle level requirements & attributes.
- Seek solutions to technical challenges & problem solve issues arising during the wheel /tire / service kit development & in serial production (with tire and assembly)
- Understand, interpret and ensure wheel, tire, service kit component and subsystems meet all local, regional and international homologation requirements for markets into which Rivian vehicles will be offered.
- Deliver wheel, tire, service kit programs according to Rivian standards and guidelines.
- Create and develop engineering specification packages that effectively communicate to internal and external partners to ensure products meet given project parameters
- Maintain and manage component and vehicle level sub system design verification requirements & testing.
- Complete and release wheel, tire, service kit and wheel/tire assembly documentation, including 3D Models 2D drawings
- Manage designed parts in the virtual environment and support virtual build and release activities
- Develop collaborative relationships with suppliers & wheel/tire assemblers, and manage them to deliver projects on time and to specification
- Supporting initial wheel 2D & 3D Themes, working alongside Rivian Studio Engineering and Design Teams; assess wheel design feasibility, monitor wheel attribute targets, offer technical direction on maturing wheel designs into feasible solutions.
- Working confidently in CATIA 3DX environment performing; assembly, packaging, measurement, surfacing GSD, drawings
- Evaluating wheel designs with CAE software.
- Working with nominated wheel supplier after award to develop wheel designs, balancing supplier and studio requirements whilst protecting wheel attribute targets
- Facilitate regular touchpoints between supplier and studio, whilst managing project schedule
- Confidently contribute towards design compromise discussions between studio and supplier.
- Effectively balance multiple projects, responsibilities, and tasks simultaneously
- Meet program timing & budget constraints whilst achieving mass, vehicle dynamics, crash, aero, NVH and chassis attribute targets
- Define validation procedures to ensure only optimized, integrated and robust designs are released
- Travel as necessary to support testing, supplier visits & production engineering support
- Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, (Or related field, such as Automotive, Motorsport Engineering, or equivalent Experience)
- 3 years experience in a chassis design and/or development role at an OEM.
- Must be familiar with DFMEA/DVPR usage and review of these documents
- Strong experience using CAD (ideally CATIA V6) required
- Demonstrable Knowledge of GD&T, Material Selection, Design Decision Matrices, Root Cause Analysis, Manufacturing methods for wheels, tires, jacks.
- Solid fundamental knowledge of chassis design, vehicle dynamics, wheel & tire alignment, tire uniformity and tire design contributors to vehicle level performance
- Understanding of wheel & tire design standards & code (ETRTO, TR&A etc) & homologation
- Candidates should be self-motivated and able to work in a fast-paced team environment
- Excellent communication skills, able to interact effectively with domestic and international teammates & suppliers
- Possess a genuine interest in EVs & Adventure Vehicles and is driven with unwavering enthusiasm and curiosity to learn as much as possible about chassis design & technologies.
- Must be a self-starter, use initiative and engineering judgement
- Ability to interpret data and solve complex problems using first principles
Salary Range Irvine-Based Applicants: $107,800-$134,800 (actual compensation will be determined based on experience, and other factors permitted by law).
Benefits Summary: Rivian provides robust medical/Rx, dental and vision insurance packages for full-time employees, their spouse or domestic partner, and children up to age 26. Coverage is effective on the first day of employment.
Equal Opportunity
Rivian is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable federal, state, and local fair employment practices laws. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information or characteristics, physical or mental disability, marital/domestic partner status, age, military/veteran status, medical condition, or any other characteristic protected by law.
Rivian is committed to ensuring that our hiring process is accessible for persons with disabilities. If you have a disability or limitation, such as those covered by the Americans with Disabilities Act, that requires accommodations to assist you in the search and application process, please email us at candidateaccommodations@rivian.com .
Candidate Data Privacy
Rivian may collect, use and disclose your personal information or personal data (within the meaning of the applicable data protection laws) when you apply for employment and/or participate in our recruitment processes (“Candidate Personal Data”). This data includes contact, demographic, communications, educational, professional, employment, social media/website, network/device, recruiting system usage/interaction, security and preference information. Rivian may use your Candidate Personal Data for the purposes of (i) tracking interactions with our recruiting system; (ii) carrying out, analyzing and improving our application and recruitment process, including assessing you and your application and conducting employment, background and reference checks; (iii) establishing an employment relationship or entering into an employment contract with you; (iv) complying with our legal, regulatory and corporate governance obligations; (v) recordkeeping; (vi) ensuring network and information security and preventing fraud; and (vii) as otherwise required or permitted by applicable law.
Rivian may share your Candidate Personal Data with (i) internal personnel who have a need to know such information in order to perform their duties, including individuals on our People Team, Finance, Legal, and the team(s) with the position(s) for which you are applying; (ii) Rivian affiliates; and (iii) Rivian’s service providers, including providers of background checks, staffing services, and cloud services.
Rivian may transfer or store internationally your Candidate Personal Data, including to or in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the European Union and in the cloud, and this data may be subject to the laws and accessible to the courts, law enforcement and national security authorities of such jurisdictions.
Please note that we are currently not accepting applications from third party application services.
Salary : $107,800 - $134,800
